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Cryptocurrency industry figures continue to hit back at negative stories about Bitcoin mining in mainstream media, Barry Silbert claiming mining Bitcoin was “50 times more useful” than gold.

What’s In A Number?

In a tweet November 6, the Digital Currency Group founder and CEO rebutted claims over Bitcoin mining which originally surfaced in the Nature International Journal of Science.

In it, researchers allege mining Bitcoin 00 is three times more expensive than gold, while the total emissions for mining the four largest cryptocurrencies by market cap between January 2016 and June 2018 lay anywhere between 3 and 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The findings were widely reported by mainstream media publications, including MarketWatch, which led with a headline focusing on the financial costs of Bitcoin mining.

Silbert, who like many social media commentators appeared irked by the report, retaliated, saying that the usefulness of minting new cryptocurrency outweighed that of new gold fifty times over.

The Scourge Of ‘Research’ on Bitcoin Mining

While his argument received critiques of its own, the episode underlines to continuing battle the cryptocurrency industry faces regarding both research and media coverage of its growth.

At the end of last month, a separate report into Bitcoin’s purported impact on climate change also received widespread coverage.

Investigating, Bitcoin Core developer Nic Carter soon unearthed what he described as “naive assumptions” about Bitcoin’s energy usage which he then extrapolated to demonstrate the ‘Bitcoin network’ the report analyzed does not exist.

Among the characteristics of Bitcoin which researchers claimed would contribute to 2-degree rises in global warming are 3.2 gigabyte block sizes, fixed (not decreasing) issuance and the complete absence of all level-two technology such as the Lightning Network.

“That major mainstream media organizations are reporting on this is a scathing indictment of the MSM. It’s simply fake news; to publish is either incompetence or fraud,” he commented.

What do you think about the latest research into Bitcoin mining costs? Let us know in the comments below!

Bitstamp, a Luxembourg-based cryptocurrency exchange, and Cinnober, a global independent provider of trading and clearing technology for the financial sector, recently partnered to increase the Bitstamp platform’s order matching speed and throughput. According to Bistamp’s blog post, published on November 5, 2018, Cinnober’s TRADExpress Trading System will replace Bitstamp’s in-house developed matching engine.

Order Matching Speed Now 1250x Faster

Bitstamp, a cryptocurrency exchange formed in 2011 has quickly grown to become one of the largest exchanges by trading volume in the world. According to the Blockchain Transparency Institute Report, Bitstamp ranks 10 in the global cryptocurrency exchange list, with over 28,000 active users and over $77 million in cryptocurrency trading volume in a 24-hour time frame.

The Bitstamp post mentioned that upgrading their existing technology with TRADExpress will be a significant move and a crucial step in their mission to connect the cryptocurrency industry and traditional finance markets. The cryptocurrency exchange believes that the new matching mechanism will push the technological frontier in digital currency trading.

“While Bitstamp’s matching engine was already excellent by crypto standards, this will put us in the same league as traditional exchanges with decades of experience,” said David Osojnik, Bitstamp’s Chief Technology Officer. “Our platform’s order matching speed is expected to become 1250x faster, while throughput will increase by 400x.”

The cryptocurrency exchange will implement TRADExpress in a few phases. The first phase will occur in the first quarter of 2019. It will be performed entirely by the end of the second quarter. Bitstamp hopes that the rollout of TRADExpress will help it attract emerging traders as it will also increase their capacity and ability to provide additional services without any decline in performance.

Bitstamp Takes Safety and Security Seriously

Bitstamp chose Cinnober’s matching system because of the company’s strong track record, especially when it came to worldwide financial marketplaces with clients including the Asia Pacific Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange, the Japan Exchange Group and many more. Cinnober also received an acquisition offer from Nasdaq in September 2018. While Cinnober’s board of directors recommended that the company should accept the acquisition agreement, the company has not completed the deal yet.

Furthermore, Cinnober also understood Bitstamp’s vision and were able to work closely with the cryptocurrency exchange to tweak and customize the technology to meet Bitstamp’s needs. Peter Lenardos, the CEO of the Cinnober Group, noted that Bitstamp’s decision to upgrade trading technology not only boosts Bitstamp’s performance and stability, it also shows that the exchange is firmly committed to the safety and security of the marketplace.

French lawmakers have adopted an amendment to the 2019 budget bill that will cut capital gains tax on bitcoin sales to 30 percent from 36.2 percent. This will bring cryptocurrency transactions in line with other non-real estate assets, which are taxed at a flat rate of 30 percent.

Amendment Awaits Approval by Parliament

The budget amendment was adopted by a finance commission in France’s lower house of parliament, a Reuters report said. But it must first be approved “in the final version of the budget bill by the broader parliament in order to become law.” If approved, the new tax will come into force in January.

At one point, cryptocurrency taxes in Europe’s third largest economy reached 45 percent. In April, however, the Council of State said that gains generated from digital assets were to be considered as capital gains of movable property. That meant a significant slash in the tax rate, with the exception of earnings from cryptocurrency mining, which are taxed as non-commercial profits and income resulting from professional activity that is taxed as industrial and commercial profits.

Cryptocurrency Haven

Under president Emmanuel Macron, France is trying to transform itself into a haven for business, including the business of cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, Macron launched the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation (PACTE) which, among other things, aims to make it easy for companies to operate in France, and to lay out legal guidelines for fund raising via token sales.

In September, the French parliament passed a law setting out guidelines for initial coin offerings. Announcing the new legislation, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said at the time that the legal framework enables the French financial regulator Authorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) to approve and issue permits to businesses intending to float ICOs in France – but only if “those projects provide specific guarantees for investors.”

Issuers will be expected to give full disclosure to the AMF, allowing buyers to make informed decisions about the ICO in question. The French regulator has previously raised concern over the lack of clear regulation on token sales “as an inherent risk factor of ICOs,” heightening the possibility of loss, money laundering and terrorist financing.

What do you think of the French government’s approach to cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Giancarlo delivered his speech titled “Quantitative Regulation: Effective Market Regulation in a Digital Era” at the FinTech Week conference at Georgetown University Law School. The chairman addressed emerging digital technologies, such as DLT, big data, automated data analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI), and their impact on trading markets and the financial landscape.

In terms of applying these technologies to trading markets, Giancarlo said that “we begin to see a world where the majority of standard tasks are managed by machines” since, combined with DLT, automation facilitates cost reduction and improves trade matching, processing, clearing and settlement.

Giancarlo suggested that higher-order computing technologies will likely become “ubiquitous” to commodity and financial derivatives markets. He said that the CFTC and other regulators will have to keep pace with the advance of AI in order to succeed.

Giancarlo further pointed out that the commission must be proactive in regulatory data collection, automated analysis, and data-driven policy application, and eventually become a “quantitative regulator.”

Speaking on the challenges presented by data automation and machines and their impact on labor markets, Giancarlo asserted that “being a quantitative regulator does not mean replacing human judgment and market intelligence; it means reinforcing it:”

“It means freeing agency staff from repetitive and low value tasks to focus on high value activities that require their expert judgment and domain knowledge. It means marshalling quality data that is efficiently and, perhaps, algorithmically analyzed upon which human judgement can be deployed, unfurled and expanded.”

The chairman suggested that DLT would help regulators analyze data, real-world outcomes, and success in satisfying regulatory objectives, “rather than rely on static rules and regulations that were put in place without knowing the consequences or results they would drive in the market.” He added:

“We can also envision the day where rulebooks are digitized, compliance is increasingly automated or built into business operations through smart contracts, and regulatory reporting is satisfied through real-time DLT networks.”

In July, Giancarlo outlined his agency’s interest in blockchain technology, emphasizing the need for the appropriate procedures that would enable the CFTC to examine innovative blockchain tech for potential future use cases. The chairman stated that there is a need for a legally sound, fast process of sharing information between the agency and fintech innovators, “especially in the area of blockchain.”

The government of Taiwan has recently cracked down on anonymous cryptocurrency transaction, as it reportedly ordered cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country to identify their users through know-your-customer (KYC) checks.

According to Finance Magnates, the move was made by amending laws related to money laundering and terrorism finance. New regulations now allow local banks to reject anonymous transactions, which they should report to the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Supervisory Commission.

Through a statement, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice revealed that national laws regarding financial crimes hadn’t been amended for two years, and the changes will “align Taiwan more closely with the rest of the world.” To ensure these are enforced, fines of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,200) for individuals and 500,000 yuan ($72,000) for financial institutions have been introduced.

Despite Taiwan’s move Wellington Koo, the chairman of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), has revealed the country doesn’t plan on following in the footsteps of some of its neighbors – South Korea and China – and ban initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Nevertheless, some believe China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies is influencing Taiwan. While the region is fully self-governing, the People’s Republic claims sovereignty over it and has threatened to use military force if it claims independence.

Cryptocurrencies in Taiwan

Taiwan’s new amendments to curb money laundering with cryptocurrencies shouldn’t come as a surprise. Back in April Qiu Taisan, the country’s Justice Minister, called for regulations that would go into effect this month. Their goal is to stop cryptos from being used for illicit activities, and not clampdown on then ascent industry.

Regulators in the country have, in fact, been supportive of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, so much so they have considered allowing convenience stores in the country to facilitate crypto to cash transactions.

During the Asia blockchain Summit in July of this year, in Taipei, Koo revealed the financial watchdog supports blockchain technology’s development, while minister Chin Mei-ling of the National Development Council noted the government would encourage it.

On November 3, renowned Bitcoin advocate, Andreas Antonopoulos, took to Twitter to claim that URL shortening service, Bit.ly (Bitly), had blocked crypto-related links from his upcoming book.

Cointelegraph has reached out to Bitly, and learned that the links “had been inadvertently blocked,” while the company has reportedly resolved the issue. Nevertheless, crypto-related bans still exist in mainstream media.

‘Why are you blocking links to cryptocurrency sites?’

Antonopoulos, author of several well-known guides to cryptocurrencies, including “Mastering Bitcoin”, called out Bitly on Twitter, revealing details of the block. The company allegedly blacklisted over 200 links featured in “Mastering Ethereum,” Antonopoulos’ new book, due for publication in around four weeks.

“Why are you blocking http://bit.ly links to crypto-currency [sic] sites?” he asked, adding:

“I’m about to publish my fourth book and it has about 200 http://bit.ly links in it. If you are going to block links, I will need to remove all 200 and replace them with a competitor[.]”

Responding to his tweet, user Wagner Santana, enclosed a screenshot of what seemed as Bitly blacklisting a blockchain.info link which had been “identified as being potentially problematic by the service.”

Overall, commentators were quick to come to Antonopoulos’ defence, calling for a move away from “centralized” link shorteners, adding:

In response to the Bitly’s explanation, Antonopoulos requested more details regarding the block. Specifically, the “Mastering Bitcoin” author asked the URL shortening service whether the block was triggered by “too many redirects”, third-party reports or a “poorly curated blacklist”, adding:

“What assures me (and the rest of the crypto-currency community) that this won’t happen again? What steps have been taken to ensure it doesn’t?”

The company had left those questions unanswered by press time. However, in a separate tweet, it mentioned that “no particular filter triggered in this situation.”

A Bitly representative informed Cointelegraph over email that the blacklisting happened accidentally, due to internal security systems, while that the company does not specifically target cryptocurrency sites:

“Recently, we became aware that one of author Andreas M. Antonopoulos’ links had been inadvertently blocked. On occasion, as in this case, our security systems generate false positives. Bitly does not categorically block cryptocurrency sites. Once we were alerted to the issue we unblocked the domain.”

Crypto-related blocks still persist in mainstream social media

Over the past months, both Facebook and Google have reversed their crypto bans, which were originally introduced earlier this year, mainly due to “deceptive promotional practices” among cryptocurrencies and initial coin offering (ICOs) ads.

Therefore, on September 25, U.S. tech giant Google announced that starting in October, it will allow registered cryptocurrency exchanges to advertise on its Google Adwords platform, targeting the U.S. and Japanese audiences.

Facebook, in turn, reversed its ad ban for pre-approved cryptocurrency firms back in June, but maintained the ban on ICO advertisement.

Still, the stigma attached to crypto-related business continues to reappear in mainstream social media, although the Bitly incident has turned out to be a misunderstanding — just a few days ago, for instance, Apple reportedly took down a popular crypto podcast.

The “Off the Chain” podcast was hosted by Morgan Creek Digital partner and crypto analyst Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, and had apparently been “mysteriously” removed from the U.S. iTunes store on November 5, after allegedly soaring to fourth place for podcasts in the “investing” category. Pompliano tweeted:

“Last week we released a podcast discussing the ultimate argument for Bitcoin. It exploded & ranked #4 in U.S. investing category before mysteriously being taken down by @Apple. We had no warning. We don’t know why. They took down our podcast, but they can’t take down Bitcoin!”

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The Texas State Securities Board has issued an emergency cease and desist order to an Australia-based cryptocurrency mining company and its affiliates. According to the order, the company represents that investments in its mining contracts are “guaranteed to 200% profit.”

Cease and Desist Order

The Texas State Securities Board on Tuesday issued an emergency cease and desist order to Sydney-based Aws Mining Pty. Ltd. and nine other respondents affiliated with the company. The entities named are Automated Web Services Mining (Aws Mining), Mycoindeal, Aws Elite, and West Texas Oilfield Cloud Miners Club.

Sydney-based Mycoindeal provides wallet services for investments issued by Aws Mining. Aws Elite is a multi-level marketing organization for Aws Mining based in Pennsylvania. West Texas Oilfield Cloud Miners Club, an affiliate of Aws Elite, is a Texas-based sales agent for Aws Mining.

The order states:

The investments in the cryptocurrency mining program are ‘securities’ … Respondents are engaging in fraud in connection with the offer for sale of securities … [and] are making offers containing statements that are materially misleading or otherwise likely to deceive the public.

The board elaborated that respondents are violating the Securities Act since neither they nor their securities are registered with the state’s Securities Commissioner.

They are, therefore, ordered to cease and desist from offering for sale any security in Texas until the securities and all parties involved are properly registered or exempt from registration.

200 Percent Return Guaranteed

According to the order, Aws Mining’s website claims that the company is mining cryptocurrency through farms located in Guangzhou, China; Ingushetia, Russia; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; Anhui, China; and Hebei, China.

The order describes that the companies and their executives “are issuing investments in cryptocurrency mining referred to as crypto mining power contracts, and they are representing [that] the crypto mining power contracts are ‘guaranteed to 200% profit’ and that each crypto mining power contract ‘is guaranteed to 200% return on purchase price.’”

In addition, the companies are using a multi-level marketing network of sales agents to sell these mining contracts and recruit new agents on social media. The board emphasized:

They are also telling potential investors the crypto mining power contracts pay a ‘200% passive return on every investment.’

Furthermore, the order noted that “Although potential investors are led to believe they will receive a 200% return on principle invested in crypto mining power contracts,” Aws Mining “is now disclaiming the guarantee of profitability and instead representing that investors assume the risks associated with the investment.”

The board subsequently concluded that the companies and individuals named in the order “are engaging in other illegal, fraudulent, deceptive, and/or misleading practices in connection with the offer of crypto mining power contracts to Texas residents.”

What do you think of Texas taking action against Aws Mining? Let us know in the comments section below.

Due to the inadequacies of the previously laid down guidelines for its blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Mauritius’ financial watchdog, has drafted new regulations to cover its DLT ecosystem and crypto-based businesses are now required to obtain a custodial license for cryptoassets, reportedFinance Magnates on November 6, 2018.

A New License for Blockchain Firms

At a time when forward-thinking nations are formulating amenable rules to govern their cryptocurrency space, Mauritius has also begun making efforts to sanitize its blockchain industry. The FSC has reportedly released a new set of draft laws to govern its burgeoning blockchain industry.

The guidelines which require crypto-linked businesses to obtain a Custodian Services Digital Asset License are aimed at fixing the existing loopholes in the system. As stated in the document, custodians are required to have a capital base of 500,000 Mauritian rupees (approximately $14,492), and the money must be fully insured.

That’s not all, all holders of the license must adhere to the same set of rules that govern traditional financial institutions, and crypto-based businesses are required to have a board comprising of a minimum of three members.

The draft will be open for public comments from the November 5 to 18, 2018. The draft read:

“The holder of the Custodian Services (Digital Asset) License will also be considered as a ‘financial institution’ under the Financial Intelligence and will be required to operate in strict compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AMLCFT) regulations.”

Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies not Legal Tender

While bitcoin has gained the status of legal tender in some regions of the world including Japan, the FSC has made it clear that the world’s flagship cryptocurrency is only a store of value, not money and should be invested in by sophisticated investors such as financial experts, hedge funds, and others.

It’s worth noting that Mauritius is not the only nation that has warned its citizens to be wary of the volatility of bitcoin and other digital assets.

As reported by BTCManager earlier in January 2018, the U.S, state of Massachusetts warned residents to tread carefully with crypto investing as the digital asset class is entirely speculative. While the new draft rules for digital assets are now open for public comments, GMEX Group Limited may be the first blockchain firm to obtain the digital assets custodian license. The firm announced the launch of a blockchain-based exchange platform called the HYBSE International Marketplace, in collaboration with MINDEX Holdings and HYBSE in Mauritius, on November 5, 2018.